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Move over, Pepe Le Pew, you were not the only amorous French skunk out there!
Meet Mademoiselle Hepzibah from Walt Kelly's classic comic strip Pogo. Even though she was only a minor character,this cute skunk was always one of my favorites from the strip. How a little French skunk made it to the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia I don't know,but she was an unusual character. Instead of pursuing her love interests like Pepe, they all chased her! Here she is with a certain possum boy-
From a Chuck Jones animated special from 1969
Here is the animated special from 1969-the picture quality is poor but well worth a watch
Kelly did not join the 1941 artists strike against Disney, he liked Walt and he was loyal to his fellow animators, he invented a sick sister and went home. While Pogo was a liberal strip, he mocked Communists to the dismay of the left wing. Kelly's artwork is as good as it gets. I always found Pogo hard to read, and I had no idea what he was usually talking about. His character P. T. Bridgeport, a bear, talked in circus poster lettering and style, rather like our editor Mr. Andy. P. T. hung out with Tammananny Tiger. Some of Kelly's early stuff is on our post about Animal Comics. Kelly did not like the Chuck Jones special as he felt it was all Chuck and no Kelly. He killed himself with smoking and drinking, diabetes did him in. His artwork is as good as cartooning gets. Mme. Hepzibah is Porky Pine's girl and is modeled after his Kelly's second wife.
When I was young and tried to read the strip it didn't make much sense either-I guess it took a more mature person to understand all the political inside jokes.What did attract me as a child was his superb drawing style-I still admire it!
Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah was based to some degree on Stephanie Waggony, the woman who was to become Walt Kelly's second wife. He also mentioned in one of his books that in high school, when he was supposed to be studying French, he was studying the French teacher. I suspect something of her was inherent in the character, too.
Kelly's greatest reason for falling out with Chuck Jones was over the portrayal of Hepzibah. By 1969 Stephanie had already passed away and Walt felt the way Jones handled the character was inappropriate to his personal vision.
Walt Kelly did several voices in the Special, including Albert the Alligator, Howland Owl and P.T. Bridgeport (singing in the video above).
Kelly was an accomplished composer, lyricist and performer; he produced a book and LP combination called Songs of the Pogo with Norman Monath. While copies of the book are easily found on eBay, clean copies of the record have become hard to come by. Fortunately, a CD was reissued a few years back with some extra material that never would have fit on the album -- including Walt practicing.
Marvel Comics artist Dave Cockrum created a series involving a Skunk-like character named Hepzibah, but later artists and writers changed her into a cat.
Yes I had heard she was modeled after Walt's wife. I remember seeing the tv show as a child but I had no idea there was a falling out between Walt and Chuck. Sometimes great minds think too differently.
Walt Kelly used cute talking animals to lampoon the silliness of humans at every level; but in such a way that you loved them, even the villains. Powerful politicians that were too serious to laugh at themselves got Americans to laugh at them with Kelly's help: Edgar Hoover was a bull dog, LBJ was a longhorn bull, Nixon was a spider and McCarthy was a wildcat, all interacting with the main characters in Madcap plots for power or wealth. Kelly tried his hand at short comedies with human characters: brilliantly inked but lacking the lovable charm of his long-running Pogo strip. Although she lacked the battleship figure of Sis Boom Bah, the Rhode Island Red, Hepzibah was the eye-candy that charmed Pogo into love-struck idiocy; and the one section where Pogo can finally bring himself to take her on a date is full of 100proof nonsense and sweetness.
Abandoned Cat Little Tora, 1947. A family finds an abandoned kitten and takes it in. But one of the children is jealous of the attention shown to the newcomer and runs away. In 1947 war orphans were everywhere in Japan. Directed by Kenzo Masaoka. https://youtu.be/d_nN0_DZPHw A dream of domestic bliss. https://youtu.be/-6toCCKMBqo This ends with the family all together as one on a Christmas, decorated tree and everything. https://youtu.be/cF4qS1iQ-Gs What is conspicuous is the lack of a father. I guess at this time so many Japanese families had their fathers and sons gone that this cartoon designed to comfort and to empathize with those bereft. In that regard this is a very sad movie, very well made. Life is far too marvelous to be squandered in war. https://misterscribbles.blogspot.com/
Japanese whirlwind demon. I could not find the name of the artist but I am guessing that the red kanji is a signature. These invisible demons employ their sickle claws to do their thing. Pretty malevolent, if you ask me. If anybody has invisible flying bloodthirsty slasher weasels it would be the Japanese. This vicious fellow is by Xatchett off DeviantArt. https://www.deviantart.com/xatchett These yokai ride dustdevils and whirlwinds and slash up the unwary, while drawing no blood. In the 1890's there was a rash of these attacks. Some anime. https://youtu.be/sxC-g5sCWXk The whirlwind thing seems to be a big part of all this. Kamaitachi, by Eikoh Hosea, 1969. And another. This is the photographer who took the dynamic black and white pictures of Yukio Mishima I had posted in an earlier essay. The model in this series, Kamaitachi, is a famous avant-garde dancer, Tatsumi H
Kelly did not join the 1941 artists strike against Disney, he liked Walt and he was loyal to his fellow animators, he invented a sick sister and went home. While Pogo was a liberal strip, he mocked Communists to the dismay of the left wing. Kelly's artwork is as good as it gets. I always found Pogo hard to read, and I had no idea what he was usually talking about. His character P. T. Bridgeport, a bear, talked in circus poster lettering and style, rather like our editor Mr. Andy. P. T. hung out with Tammananny Tiger. Some of Kelly's early stuff is on our post about Animal Comics. Kelly did not like the Chuck Jones special as he felt it was all Chuck and no Kelly. He killed himself with smoking and drinking, diabetes did him in. His artwork is as good as cartooning gets. Mme. Hepzibah is Porky Pine's girl and is modeled after his Kelly's second wife.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young and tried to read the strip it didn't make much sense either-I guess it took a more mature person to understand all the political inside jokes.What did attract me as a child was his superb drawing style-I still admire it!
DeleteI used 'as good as it gets' twice but I am scared to edit this, sometimes it jams the page. I have met the enemy and he is me.
ReplyDeleteWell now, that is one sultry skunk! I hadn't known of her before, but now she is on my radar!
ReplyDeleteI think I will have to try to draw her!
DeleteHmmmmm, Hepzibah's outfits were far, far, far simpler than your lovely ladies.
DeleteMiz Mam'selle Hepzibah was based to some degree on Stephanie Waggony, the woman who was to become Walt Kelly's second wife. He also mentioned in one of his books that in high school, when he was supposed to be studying French, he was studying the French teacher. I suspect something of her was inherent in the character, too.
ReplyDeleteKelly's greatest reason for falling out with Chuck Jones was over the portrayal of Hepzibah. By 1969 Stephanie had already passed away and Walt felt the way Jones handled the character was inappropriate to his personal vision.
Walt Kelly did several voices in the Special, including Albert the Alligator, Howland Owl and P.T. Bridgeport (singing in the video above).
Kelly was an accomplished composer, lyricist and performer; he produced a book and LP combination called Songs of the Pogo with Norman Monath. While copies of the book are easily found on eBay, clean copies of the record have become hard to come by. Fortunately, a CD was reissued a few years back with some extra material that never would have fit on the album -- including Walt practicing.
Marvel Comics artist Dave Cockrum created a series involving a Skunk-like character named Hepzibah, but later artists and writers changed her into a cat.
Yes I had heard she was modeled after Walt's wife. I remember seeing the tv show as a child but I had no idea there was a falling out between Walt and Chuck. Sometimes great minds think too differently.
ReplyDeleteWalt Kelly used cute talking animals to lampoon the silliness of humans at every level; but in such a way that you loved them, even the villains. Powerful politicians that were too serious to laugh at themselves got Americans to laugh at them with Kelly's help: Edgar Hoover was a bull dog, LBJ was a longhorn bull, Nixon was a spider and McCarthy was a wildcat, all interacting with the main characters in Madcap plots for power or wealth. Kelly tried his hand at short comedies with human characters: brilliantly inked but lacking the lovable charm of his long-running Pogo strip. Although she lacked the battleship figure of Sis Boom Bah, the Rhode Island Red, Hepzibah was the eye-candy that charmed Pogo into love-struck idiocy; and the one section where Pogo can finally bring himself to take her on a date is full of 100proof nonsense and sweetness.
ReplyDelete